Neufi

I just bought a 2009 Acura MDX Base. When I start it up, the ABS and VSA lights are on. When I head down the road, the SH AWD light comes on too(~50km/hr). I can feel a little hesitation on the acceleration for a few seconds when the SH AWD light first comes on, then it works fine. I am not having any issues driving or stopping but I believe it's only working in FWD. I have checked all the fuses, MAF sensors, battery voltage and no "smoking gun". I have reset the ABS light by jumping the two OBD pins and all lights stay out till I hit about 50km/hr, then all 3 come back on. I've got 106000 km on it and it works real well. Would this issue stem from a bad wheel speed sensor(s) or is it something else? I have searched many forums online and I don't see anyone with the exact same symptoms. PLEASE HELP!!! This is driving me CRAZY!!!

Skirmich

I would check all ABS Speed Sensors first... Its a common issue with all those lights comming up.. SH-AWD code should be 77 which is a general code for SH-AWD being disabled by an external issue.

Neufi

OK cool. I am going to check the resistance on all four sensors tonight. I'll keep posting updates till I get it right!! What would be "an external issue."? Could the SH-AWD code show because of the ABS issue?

Skirmich

Lots of things can disable SH-AWD... In my case it was a faulty o2 Sensor which was going bad that made the SH-AWD to disable.
Since SH-AWD do Torque Vectoring it needs the ABS Sensors to work right, If one of the sensors isn´t working SH-AWD cannot track the wheel speed thus it cannot properly Torque Vector so it will disable SH-AWD guaranteed.

Neufi

OK... so I just checked the resistance on all 4 wheel speed sensors. All 4 are showing open circuit. That strikes me as strange that they would all be blown at the same time... I guess they could've gone one at a time as I have only owned it for about a week. Anywho, I guess it's off to the wheel speed sensor store...lol. I'll update again once I replace them ALL!!
Anyone else find it strange they are all gone at once? I guess any things possible, just strange...

Skirmich

They cannot go wrong at the same time :/
How are you testing them? This video can help you diagnose:

Neufi

Yah, fairly straight forward... the sensor should have continuity between the two leads. No continuity, sensor is no good. And I wasn't using a cheap multimeter either. It's a quality Fluke product. These lights were on when I bought it so it may have been an issue for a while.
Just put the order in for all 4 sensors. Under $200CAD delivered to the door.

Skirmich

Woahh never seen a car were all 4 speed sensors crapped out at once...

Neufi

Haha. If it happens to anyone, it's gonna be me.

tony777

hi, did you find out the problem with the VSA/ABS and SH-AWD lights being on?
I have the same problem with my 2008 MDX Base with 84K miles. The 1st code that came up was a driver side rear sensor failure.
I had that replaced by an Acura mechanic who does side work at his home, but the lights stayed on. This time I have a 54-1 - 'Fail safe relay failure'.

Has anyone encountered this issue?

csmeance

This is from the acura manual:

tony777

Thanks Csmeance for the quick reply.
Not sure if I can do this myself and may have a mechanic do these checks for me.
Not to well versed in electronics.
In case I need a new VSA modulator, do you have any idea how to check if the used ones are good?
I think new ones are over $1K.

tony777

Hi Csmeance,
Another question if you don't mind. I see that you've owned a 2007 MDX. My 2008 MDX only has 84K miles but I live in the northeast so you have snow. I've had the oil and fluids serviced with Acura dealer near me. I'm the original owner and it has never been in an accident. I haven't really used it that much, maybe once a week to travel 24 miles one wayto work, and then local travel during weekends. Do you think it's worth it to still fix this issue? I'm afraid I may end up just putting more money into it. I still need to buy new tires and replace the timing belt, so I may be looking at putting $4K into it for everything for now.
Do you have any idea how much this will cost to be fixed at a dealer? And would getting a new or used VSA Modulator require reprogramming by the dealer?

csmeance

Have you changed the brake fluid on time? I think it could be a bad wire or a bad sensor. Snow/cold can cause sensors to fail faster.

Lets not jump to the VSA module yet, if it is, you can grab one from ebay, u-pull-it, etc. Lets start with sensor and wires and go from there. A mechanic shouldn't charge more than 1 hr of labor to install the sensor and check wires for issue. Sometimes it can be a bad ground wire. South Main Auto channel on youtube has a video with a car with a similar issue which is very insightful!

Yes, it's abs worth it to fix it. The car is worth about 10K. Timing belt service parts (very thorough) will cost about $300-400. Labor is about 6 hours, so at $100/hr that's $600. Add another 2 hrs for a valve adjustment. You won't need to do the service until 105K miles and since you are at 84K, you have some time to budget for it. Believe it or not, check amazon for tires. I paid about $100/each for Pirelli Tires for the MDX and discount tire installed them. They wanted $200/tire there! Discount Tire Ebay store has had them for about $150ish on sale and plus you don't pay tax on ebay sales for the most part. That 4K bill could shrink to less than $2000

csmeance

Buy the AISIN Timing belt kit and spark plugs, valve cover gaskets, accessory belt kit from Rockauto and google for 5% off coupon. DO NOT BUY THESE FROM AMAZON!!!! LOTS OF FAKES THAT WILL DESTROY YOUR ENGINE

tony777

You think it's still OK not to change the timing belt at 84K even though it's 12 years old? On tires, initially, I was considering slightly used ones and saw a set of 4 Pirelli at Pepboys while having the code checked. I think the tires were Pirelli Scorpio and I asked why they were replaced when they seem to have a lot of thread in them. The mechanic showed me they were rotting and had a lot of cracks. He showed me the manufacture date was just from 2017.

By the way, do you know of any Acura master mechanic from northern NJ in this board? I'm considering your advice to have it fixed and keep the car for now.
My other option is get an MDX CPO or the 2020 MDX SH-AWD Base that can be had for under 40K. I test drove the Highlander and it's similar to driving a Pilot ( i had a 2003 which I traded-in in 2015 with 160K miles). You can feel that you're driving a tall vehicle. The MDX is different and I feel confidence when driving it on twisting roads. So I just can't let go of driving any other 7 seater SUV. However, all the problems I'm reading about the 2017-2020 MDX is holding me up from pulling the trigger. So I'm now considering fixing the 2008 and wait another 3 years to get the the new MDX. Hopefully, by then, they've iron-out the kinks.

nats007

If I was in your position, I would fix and keep the current MDX. With only 84k miles, that's young! Our 2011 is at 153k and still feels great.

As much as I love the sound of driving newer cars, not having a car payment is 10x better for me. Paying $ to keep up maintenance on a vehicle is much cheaper than jumping into another car payment.

I'd wait until 105k to do the major service (timing belt, water pump, valve adjustment, etc). I think I went to almost 120k before I did mine. Seems like the VSA and tire are the immediate issues to resolve.

Carpayment4life

I wonder what ever happened to Neufi's wheel sensor issues (Posts #1, 3, 5, 7)? His post was from 2017 and no follow-up.

Tony...Finding a mechanic that does timing belt work, suspension work, valve adjustment work, and radiator work...Get on Facebook and join a local Honda/Acura car club, then ask around there and see if anyone will vouch for the guy.
I don't think you'll find a weekend warrior that works on electronic issues as side work, because there are too many unknowns and no way to establish a fair price.

tony777

Thanks a lot Csmeance for your help on posting the items to check for the 54-1 code that was causing the VSA, ABS and SH-AWD. I followed it and noticed that fuse 12 in the primary fuse box under the hood was busted, so I replaced it. Now, when I start the car, the VSA/ABS lights will be on but the SH-AWD was off. When I start to drive I can see the SH-AWD was working but after driving for about 1000 ft, the light will come back on. So now, I don't know if I still have the 54-1 code or a new code and considering buying an OBD/ABS scanner. .
What OBD/ABS scanner would you recommend that's good, reset codes and not too expensive? Does it make sense to get one?

With regards to the 'Check Brakes' light on, I noticed that my brake fluid was low. So I added some fluids but the light remained on. While checking out the South Main Auto channel on youtube that you recommended, I saw the one where he was replacing the ABS module for I think a Honda CRV. I noticed that the mechanic had planned to replace the brake fluid reservoir and that's showed how to check the reservoir sensor. So I decided to unhook that sensor and then put it back, making sure it was tight. After that the the 'Check Brake' is gone.

Again, thanks a lot to you and Nats007 and others for your help.

csmeance

bluedriver has been great and is about $99 from amazon.

tony777

Thanks Csmeance for the Bluedriver recommendation. Initially, I held-up on buying it because my ABS/VSA/AWD lights suddenly disappeared after I f replaced the blown fuse 12 in the main fuse box under the hood and driving about 10 miles without using any OBD scanner. Prior to that, I had the code - 54-1. However, I took it for a longer drive the following weekend (150 miles) and the light came back on after 30 miles of driving, going 65+ mph.
This time, I decided to get the Bluedriver from Amazon and the scanner pulled codes 18 (left rear speed sensor issue again) and 77-02. The left rear sensor was supposed to have been replaced by an acura mechanic 3 weeks ago, so just wondering why it is still showing that error. I was able to clear the codes with the Bluedriver, but once I take it for a drive, the ABS/VSA/AWD lights come back on immediately.
So I decided to take it to another mechanic and after checking them, he said that the speed sensors were working and no open circuits. He said I should try to get new tires since my 3 tires need replacing while the 4th one on the right rear is newer. He said that could be causing the problem because he can't find any.
My question to him was why did the lights 1st came on when my battery died and I wasn't really using the car due to the covid lockdown.

What do you guys think? I've been driving with the 1 newer tire for probably 2 years now adding but had just driven 5K miles since.

tony777

HI guys, I still have the same problem with the ABS/VSA/AWD - code 18 (rear left speed sensor) according to Bluedriver. I'm able to clear it but when I drive the car, the code comes back. The rear left speed sensor has already been replaced by one mechanic and it worked for about 30 miles, then the lights came back. He gave up, so I brought it to a different mechanic who said that there are no open circuits and the sensors have readings. He recommended putting new tires since the rear right tire is fairly new compared to the 3 other tires. So I switched the newer tire in the rear to the older one on the front so that both rear tires are old. That still did not solve the ABS/VSA problem.
I then brought it to a different mechanic who checked it and said that all the sensors show speed readings. So he recommended replacing the rear wheel hub for $375 because apparently, it has a lot of rust and he thinks the rust may be interfering with the speed readings. Does that make sense? I asked him if he also plans to replace the tone ring because I thought it's the combination of the tone ring and speed sensor that affects the speed readings. He said he has no plans of replacing the tone ring. So I held off on the change for now.
I decided to check the newly replaced sensor, took it out and noticed that there was quite a bit of grease close to the bottom third of it. I wiped it out and then blew some compressed air on the hole.. Then I put back the sensor. When I test drove it, the ABS/VSA lights come back on after speed hits over 30mph.
Any more ideas? It's really frustrating.

Carpayment4life

My daughter's Integra was having a drivers rear speed sensor issue. I bought a used one ( I checked it with an ohm meter 1st ), installed it, and the ABS light came back when she used the car.
I bought a ABS controller module and solved the problem.
I'm not saying that all Acuras are the same, I'm just mentioning my solution to a similar issue, on a different car.

tony777

Thanks Carpayment4life. What was the code you were getting? was it the same as the one before the speed sensor was replaced?
Isn't the ABS controller module expensive? Did you get a new one or got it from ebay?

Carpayment4life

A guy had a parts car. $55 for both.